Modi, who is on his maiden visit to the Kutch district after becoming prime minister, is here for three days to attend the 50th annual conference of state police chiefs.

Arriving in Bhuj in the afternoon, he handed over the certificate to Patel at a function here, before moving to Dhordo Tent City in the white desert, the venue of the conference.

The British government had seized barrister licenses of two Indian lawyers – Mahatma Gandhi and Shayamji Verma. Coincidentally, both were from Gujarat. Though Mahatma’s bar membership was reinstated in 1988, nobody bothered about Verma,

He said that ahead of his recent visit to Britain, he raised the issue and discussed with some of the British ministers who are of Indian origin.

“These efforts paid off and I got the opportunity to bring the reinstatement certificate of a great freedom fighter,” he said that after becoming his prime minister, bringing reinstatement of Verma back home was a priority.

Verma was from the coastal Mandvi town in Kutch. When Modi was Gujarat chief minister, he had brought back Verma’s ashes from Britain and the state government had also built a memorial – Kranti Tirth – in Verma’s hometown to keep them.

Kranti Tirth was inaugurated by Modi in 2010. The memorial is a replica of India House situated in North London, established by Verma as a base for Indian students studying in England. Verma was also the founder of the Indian Home Rule Society.

Born on October 4, 1857, Verma is also known as ‘Kranti Guru’. He died on March 30, 1930, in Geneva. Kutch University situated in Bhuj has also been named as Shyamji Krishna Verma University after him.

“Verma was debarred from Britain’s leading law society for advocating independence for India in 1905. As a result of the efforts of Modi, Verma has been posthumously reinstated to the Bar,” said a source who witnessed the procedure. According to him, the certificate would be kept along with Verma’s ashes at Kranti Tirth in Mandvi.

Parliament of India is a source of interest for many people because of various reasons. Wikimedia Commons

In April, the opposition may lose its edge over BJP in Rajya Sabha

NDA led by Modi has faced many embarrassments in Rajya Sabha in past few years

This is expected to change soon

Come April, the opposition in the Rajya Sabha may lose its edge in the numbers game and the power to stall any government bill, as the ruling BJP-led NDA coalition is set to catch up with its rivals, though a clear majority will elude them for a while more.

BJP to soon get more comfortable in Rajya Sabha. Wikimedia Commons

As 58 MPs, including three Nominated and one Independent, are set to retire in April, the Rajya Sabha math is going to change. It is set to favour the National Democratic Alliance (NDA), and the trend may continue in the elections to the Upper House later too with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) having solid majorities in a number of state assemblies, especially the ones it won after the 2014 Lok Sabha polls.

With this, while the Congress-led opposition’s numbers will come down to around 115 from the present 123, the numbers of the BJP, its allies and sympathisers together would climb to around 109 from the present 100-odd members.

And the gap, once wide enough to let the opposition invariably have its say, will keep narrowing further in the coming months.

Of the 55 retiring members (excluding those Nominated), 30 belong to the opposition camp while 24 belong to the BJP and allies. Of them, a large number of NDA candidates are set to return while the opposition will lose a chunk of its members.

As things stand now, the Congress-led opposition has 123 MPs (including 54 of the Congress) in a house of 233 elected members (apart from 12 Nominated), while the NDA has 83 members (including 58 of BJP) plus four Independents who support the BJP (these include MPs Rajeev Chandrashekhar, Subhash Chandra, Sanjay Dattatraya Kakade and Amar Singh).

Rajya Sabha or the Upper House can often be a game changer while passing of the bills is in process.

Also, for all practical purposes, the All India Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), that has 13 members in the Rajya Sabha, is also with the NDA. This means the NDA’s effective strength in the upper house of Parliament is 100.

The gap was wider till just a few months ago. This meant that during any battle between the government and the opposition in the Upper House over bills and major issues, it was the opposition that invariably had its way. The recent example was the triple talaq legislation that the opposition stalled in the upper house, demanding that it be referred to a Select Committee.

For over less than four years, the Narendra Modi government had faced quite a few embarrassments in the Rajya Sabha thanks to the majority of the opposition, forcing it often to take the money bill route to avoid a clash in the house. Under the Constitution, a money bill needs to be passed only in the Lok Sabha and the Rajya Sabha cannot stall it.

Of the 100 BJP-allies MPs, 24 are retiring. Which means, the government will be left with 76 MPs (including AIADMK). But at least 30 from the NDA are set to get re-elected. So the number will rise to 106. Add three members that the government would nominate to the upper house and the final NDA tally will roughly be 109 MPs.

Further, there are fence-sitters such as the Telangana Rashtra Samiti (TRS), the Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) and the YSR Congress, which are not virulently against the BJP and would not oppose the government unless for very compelling reasons.

Now, for the Congress and the rest of the opposition, they are set to lose 30 MPs (including one Independent, A.V. Swamy) through retirement and would be left with around 93 members. The Opposition may win roughly 22 seats, which means that its final tally after April is likely to be around 115 members.

Government can now expect some smooth sailing in the Rajya Sabha, coming this April.

The gap has clearly narrowed and the government may not be at the mercy of the opposition during crucial votes and can have its way in the Rajya Sabha if it musters its numbers by deftly wooing “floater” MPs.

The three newly-elected Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) members may remain equidistant from both the BJP and the Congress, though the party is friendly with some of the major opposition parties like the Trinamool Congress.

In an interesting development recently, the AAP actively participated in the opposition’s walkout and the day-long boycott of the Rajya Sabha over long intra-day adjournments of the Upper House by Chairman M. Venkaiah Naidu.

The AAP, which was not welcome at any opposition meetings earlier, particularly those held in Parliament House, was invited to speak at a joint opposition media interaction on the day. But nobody can be sure as to how long this bonding would last.

Partywise tally of those retiring in April-May from the opposition’s side include 13 from the Congress, six from the Samajwadi Party, three of the Trinamool Congress, two each of the Nationalist Congress Party and Biju Janata Dal and one each of the CPI-M, the Bahujan Samaj Party and the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.

NDA has to face many embarrassments in past few years in Rajya Sabha. Wikimedia Commons

From the ruling side, 17 MPs of the BJP, three of the Janata Dal United, one of the Shiv Sena and two of the Telugu Desam Party (TDP) are retiring.